2 Women Sexually Assaulted in Central Park

By CONSTANCE L. HAYS

Published: August 12, 1989

Two women were attacked yesterday as they jogged around the Central Park Reservoir, and a homeless man was arrested nearby and charged with sexual abuse, the police said.

The man, Michael Appling, 35 years old, was arrested shortly after the women were attacked within 15 minutes of each other on opposite sides of the reservoir, a police spokesman, Officer Edward Feeney, said. The 1.6-mile loop around the reservoir is one of the most popular running locations in the park.

The victims' breasts were fondled by a man who jumped onto the dirt path circling the reservoir and ran alongside them in the heavy rain, the officer said.

The first attack occurred at 7:45 A.M. yesterday. The victim, a 29-year-old Manhattan resident, was accosted as she ran along the reservoir near East 94th Street, Officer Feeney said. The second attack occurred at 8 A.M. as a 48-year-old woman, also a resident of Manhattan, was jogging on the path near West 90th Street.

A witness to the second attack hailed a police officer from the Central Park Precinct. The officer arrested Mr. Appling a short distance away, near 88th Street, Officer Feeney said. The victim in the first attack identified Mr. Appling as the man who had fondled her, Officer Feeney said.

Mr. Appling was charged with third-degree sexual abuse, Officer Feeney said. No injuries were reported. Mr. Appling told the police he lived at a shelter in the Atlantic Avenue Armory in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn.

The Parks Commissioner, Henry J. Stern, said last night that the park was less populated than usual yesterday morning because of the rain. He added that patrols by police officers and park enforcement patrol officers, which were increased after a woman was raped and beaten in April while jogging along the 102d Street Transverse, remained in place.

''The extra patrols are still there, and they're making a difference,'' Mr. Stern said. As for yesterday's incidents, he said, ''The women did the right thing, so the man was immediately picked up.''